Misquoted Quotes

He said, she said.

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Misquoted Quotes

Don't get caught quoting something that...was never said. Click on any misquoted quote below to see it in context and find out where it falls on Shmoop's pretentious scale. We'll give you details on who people think said it, and who actually said it—if it was ever said at all.

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

Source: 80 million United States Postage stamps | Author: Maya Angelou

"All the lonely Starbucks lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane."

Source: Blank Space | Speaker: Taylor Swift

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

Source: Misquote | Speaker: Mahatma Gandhi

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

Source: None. | Speaker: Edward Murphy

"Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?"

Source: The Graduate | Speaker: Ben Braddock

"Beam me up, Scotty."

Source: Star Trek | Speaker: Captain Kirk

"Billions and billions."

Source: Carl Sagan | Speaker: Carl Sagan

"Blood is thicker than water."

Source: Ancient Proverb | Author: Unknown

"Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble."

Source: Macbeth | Author: William Shakespeare

"Come up and see me sometime."

Source: She Done Him Wrong | Speaker: Lady Lou

"Do you feel lucky, punk?"

Source: Dirty Harry | Speaker: Harry Callahan

"Don't bring me down…Bruce!"

Source: "Don't Bring Me Down" | Speaker: Electric Light Orchestra

"Et tu, Brute?"

Source: Unknown | Speaker: Julius Caesar

"Excuse me while I kiss this guy."

Source: "Purple Haze" | Speaker: Jimi Hendrix

"For sale: Baby shoes, never worn."

Source: Papa | Author: Ernest Hemingway

"Gild the lily."

Source: King John | Author: William Shakespeare

"Greed is good."

Source: Wall Street | Speaker: Gordon Gekko

"He's alive! Alive!"

Source: Frankenstein | Speaker: Dr. Henry Frankenstein

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Source: The Mourning Bride | Author: William Congreve

"Hello, Clarice."

Source: The Silence of the Lambs | Speaker: Hannibal Lecter

"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."

Source: Misquoted | Speaker: Winston Churchill

"Hold me closer, Tony Danza."

Source: "Tiny Dancer" | Speaker: Elton John

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

Source: The Diary of Anne Frank | Author: Anne Frank

"I can see Russia from my house!"

Source: TV Interview | Speaker: Sarah Palin

"I cannot tell a lie"

Source: Childhood Anecdote | Speaker: George Washington

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Speaker: Voltaire

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Source: The Wizard of Oz | Speaker: Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland)

"I only know that I know nothing."

Source: Apology by Plato | Speaker: Socrates

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Source: Spoken before his death | Speaker: Nathan Hale

"I vant to suck your blood!"

Source: Dracula (Movie) | Speaker: Count Dracula

"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille."

Source: Sunset Boulevard | Speaker: Norma Desmond

"If you build it, they will come."

Source: Field of Dreams | Speaker: Ray Kinsella

"If you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best"

Source: Marilyn Monroe | Speaker: Marilyn Monroe

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

Source: Misquote | Speaker: Joseph Goebbels

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

Source: The Origin of the Species | Speaker: Charles Darwin

"Just the facts, ma'am."

Source: Dragnet | Speaker: Sgt. Joe Friday

"Know thyself."

Source: Inscribed on the temple of Apollo | Author: The Oracle at Delphi

"Let them eat cake!"

Source: Marie Antoinette | Speaker: Marie Antoinette

"Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do."

Source: I Love Lucy | Speaker: Ricky Ricardo

"Luke, I am your father."

Source: The Empire Strikes Back | Speaker: Darth Vader

"Me, Tarzan. You, Jane."

Source: Tarzan the Ape Man | Speaker: Tarzan

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much."

Source: Hamlet | Author: William Shakespeare

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

Source: Snow White | Speaker: The Evil Queen

"Money is the root of all evil."

Source: 1 Timothy 6:10 | Author: God

"Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast."

Source: The Mourning Bride | Author: William Congreve

"Nice guys finish last."

Source: Leo Durocher | Speaker: Leo Durocher

"No rest for the wicked"

Source: Isaiah 48:22 or Isaiah 57:20 | Author: The Lord

"Our deepest fear is not that we are weak. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."

Source: 1994 Inaugural Address | Speaker: Nelson Mandela

"Play it again, Sam."

Source: Casablanca | Speaker: Ilsa Lund

"Someday monkey won't play piano song, play piano song."

Source: "Michelle" | Speaker: The Beatles

"Starve a cold, feed a fever."

Source: Medieval Reference Manual | Author: John Withals

"The British are coming!"

Source: Spoken on April 18, 1775 | Speaker: Paul Revere

"The end justifies the means."

Source: The Prince | Author: Niccoló Machiavelli

"The only two certainties in life are death and taxes."

Source: None | Speaker: Mark Twain

"The proof is in the pudding."

Source: Proverb | Speaker: Unknown

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."

Source: Unknown | Speaker: Albert Einstein

"There's a sucker born every minute."

Source: P.T. Barnum | Speaker: P.T. Barnum

"This whole court's out of order!"

Source: …And Justice for All | Speaker: Arthur Kirkland

"Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter."

Source: Dr. Seuss | Speaker: Dr. Seuss

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."

Source: Misquote | Speaker: Alexander Hamilton

"We don't need no stinkin' badges."

Source: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Speaker: Gold Hat

"We're going to need a bigger boat."

Source: Jaws | Speaker: Brody

"Well-behaved women rarely make history."

Source: Marilyn Monroe | Author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

"When today fails to offer the justification for hope, tomorrow becomes the only grail worth pursuing."

Source: Death of a Salesman | Author: Arthur Miller

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

Source: Unknown | Author: Dr. Seuss

"Wrapped up like a douche..."

Source: Blinded by the Light | Speaker: Manfred Mann

"You can call me green bean."

Source: "Royals" | Speaker: Lorde

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Source: Unknown | Author: Mahatma Gandhi